


The Only Way

by orphan_account



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Ending, Ashes Scene in Avengers: Infinity War Part 1, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Character Death, Gen, IronStrange Week May 2018, M/M, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), facial hair bros
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 09:49:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15216518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Alternate Titan scene between Tony Stark and Stephen Strange. After Tony's injury, Stephen makes the ultimate sacrifice to set everything in motion, while coming to terms with his fate and the unspoken attraction towards the man in the suit. A gift for duskyironstrange.





	The Only Way

“Spare his life...and I will give you the stone,” the words weighed heavily in Stephen’s heart as he sat up. The massive titan towered over Tony, who looked like a helpless, beaten child cowering at the feet of an abusive father. The nano-tech spear pierced through Tony’s stomach was steadily dripping blood from the tip. It plopped on the rocks behind him, gently splattering and kicking up small puffs of dust.

Stephen could already sense Tony’s life force beginning to flicker. There were minutes, maybe even one, before the damage would be too severe to reverse. He heard the painful, heaving gasp from Tony and tried to keep his vision focused on Thanos. For a moment, his eyes shifted to glance at Tony’s horrified expression as a glob of drool dribbled down his bruised chin.

A small smirk tugged on Thanos’ large, purple face. He had the Stonekeeper right where he wanted him. The low rumble of the gauntlet vibrated the ground beneath them as all four stones lit up. It brought Stephen’s attention back to Thanos.

“No tricks this time,” he warned. Stephen tried to repress that shiver that ran down his spine. He knew all too well what would happen. 50,203 of the possible outcomes ended here because of his foolishness. There was no use in trying to outsmart the mad titan.

With his hands trembling, Stephen glanced towards the heavens. The sheer irony of the stone’s hiding place almost made him laugh. In the right pan of Libra’s scales, the Time Stone was gently nestled. With a small force of will, the gleaming emerald stone manifested between Stephen’s butchered, swelling fingers. The stars of the constellation settled back into their proper place in the sky. He could feel the stone’s power radiating, as if it too sensed the gauntlet was near. As if it knew the dark purpose it was about to be surrendered to.

“No!” Tony’s grumbled groan voiced Stephen’s very thoughts. He truly had no choice. In order for everything to work, in order for them to win...a loss had to occur. That loss, however, would not be Tony Stark. Even if some of the other futures saw them defeating Thanos and stopping this apocalypse, the sacrifice in those timelines was Tony Stark. Stephen sighed heavily. He knew the consequences of his actions. His own demise would be better than facing the darker reality that waited for him on Earth.

He would be excommunicated from the mystical world. His powers would be depleted. His access to magic would be permanently blocked and he would be cast out of the New York Sanctum forever. Stephen would lose Wong, the cloak, and everything that had stopped him from taking his own life that day in Kathmandu. His new life’s work would be gone. So, Stephen deemed it better to be his own executioner and fade from existence for now.

His very purpose was to protect the stone at all costs and while Stephen had chanted that to himself and Tony time and time again...things had changed. There was more at stake than just the sanctums of Earth. Every life in existence was hanging in the balance. The Ancient One’s last few words echoed in his head.

_“It’s not about you….”_

With a small burst of energy, Stephen bid the Time Stone farewell. The further it floated away from him, the deeper the pit in his soul became. Surely the Vishanti were frowning upon his now! As the stone hovered near the Mad Titan, Stephen swore it spun itself around, as if it was trying to flee. With a last sparkle, its brilliant shine turned dark and flat as it touched Thanos’ calloused fingers.

Stephen knew it was coming. The low rumble returned as the stone came into contact with the cursed gauntlet. The powerful surge from the indent on the thumb latched onto the stone and trapped it. A ripple blasted from the casing and green veins embedded themselves in Thanos.

Stephen bowed his head slightly. His own fate, and the fate of the entire universe, was sealed. Stephen closed his eyes. He knew what this meant. They had an hour once Thanos abandoned them here. He would go to Earth and find the Mind Stone. Thor would puncture Stormbreaker in Thanos’ chest. Thor would gloat happily, his prideful Asgardian arrogance would prevent their initial victory and within minutes, their temporarily loss would tear apart the fabric of the universe.

All of it was necessary...for she was coming.

With a final mischievous grin, Thanos took in the sight before him. The man who plagued his own dreams lay dying before him. The arrogant _Master of the Mystic Arts_ had dethroned himself, blinded by a pining affection that he couldn’t see. It was all too tragic and ironic. With time on his side, Thanos opened the last portal to complete the final stage of his self proclaimed destiny.

He watched as Quill, the admirable space rat his beloved daughter had chosen, tried so desperately to injure him. The toy gun he brought to the fight did nothing. Thanos truly pitied him. They may stand on opposite sides of the playing field, but their heartache and devastation echoed in the same hall of mourning for Gamora. Perhaps in another lifetime they could have been allies. Thanos would have proudly accepted this boy to be in the presence of his daughter. He could see the smiling, laughing reflection of Gamora in Peter’s human eyes and it nearly ripped open the few stitches that already began to heal the titan’s heart. Thankfully, the swirling clouds enveloped his body and ripped Thanos away, sealing the fate of these poor fools.

Peter froze, gasping as he turned and saw the damage. “Did we just lose!?”

Tony shook his head, his breathing ragged. “Why would you do that?” he groaned towards Stephen as the wizard staggered to his feet. There was definitely some internal bruising and several fractured ribs, but Stephen paid them no mind.

“Hey wizard!” Tony groaned as he sat up, eyes burning with an amber fury. He scooted back as Stephen sank down to his knees in front of him. Stephen’s jaw was locked so hard, Tony could hear his teeth grinding against each other. “What the hell was that for!?”

Stephen was examining the wound. It was like any other stabbing he had dealt with in medical school. The blade was stopping most of the bleeding, but once it was removed, there was a possibility Tony would start to bleed out profusely. He had to act quickly.

“Hey, butterfly boy, what gives!?” Tony yelled. He tried to raise a foot to smack his heel right into Stephen’s perfect, stone carved cheek. The movement caused the blade in his stomach to angle and slice more skin open. A sheer blinding agony inflamed his spine and for a second, Tony felt the loss of sensation in his legs. “Aaahhh!”

Stephen gripped the blade. He needed to focus. One wrong move and they would lose forever…

“Yo, Dumbledore-”

“Will you shut up!?” Stephen snapped, keeping a firm grip on the blade. His tanzanite eyes were burning with golden fires of fury and a steel grey sorrow. “I’m trying to save your arrogant ass again!”

Tony gaped for a second, his mouth bobbing open and closed as he tried to form a coherent response to fire back with. That gave Stephen the opportunity he needed to slip the blade from Tony’s body as if pulling a sword from its sheath. His piercing scream echoed throughout the destructed courtyard they were in. The framework of a standing building crumbled from the vibrations and sent a wave of dust and fractured fragments flying across the stony terran.

Stephen immediately conjured a sapphire blue shield and cupped it over Tony’s wound. He took a deep breath and focused, finding the pinpoint of Tony’s spirit in the astral dimension. It was fading and flickering like a lighthouse about to be swallowed by a tidal wave at midnight. Stephen willed his own life force out of its chamber. He groaned as he felt the chamber wither inside him, as if a winter’s frost had coated him.

The swirling dome over Tony’s wound pulsed with light as rolling waves of silver faded through it. It cascaded over Tony’s swelling purple, black and red flesh and began to weave in and out like a needle and thread through fabric. They healed the wounds inside and sewed his skin together, leaving no trace of a wound at all. The dome caved in on itself and vanished. Stephen crumbled to the ground, clutching his chest. His face had a sickly yellow tinge to it.

“Hey, hey….Strange!?” Tony hurdled himself forward and stopped. He put his fingers to the exposed skin. It was healed...his energy was back, as if he’d been given a coffee with 5 maybe 6 shots of his favorite espresso. “What the hell did you do?”

Stephen closed his eyes, feeling nauseous. He was trying to calculate how many years of his life he had just drained. Wong always told him to never take more than 1 year per hour due to the sheer sacrifice. Bile rose up in his throat and Stephen turned away, coughing and clutching his chest. When he felt Tony’s hand clap his shoulder, he jumped.

“Eight!”

“What?” Tony frowned as he hunkered down on one knee. “Strange...what the hell? This whole time, all I ever heard outta you,” he started to do a terrible impression of Stephen’s strained, stoic voice: “The stone this, the stone that! Oh hey douchebag, my hunk of bling means more to me than your scrawny ass-”

“I had to!” Stephen snapped, his cheeks puffing out slightly as he held back more bile. “I t-told you...there was only one outcome-”

“Bullshit!” Tony snapped. “You said 14 million! Not _one of those_ didn’t involve you suddenly having a change of heart?”

“Oh, you don’t think I considered it?” Stephen heaved, shoving Tony’s hand off of him. His vision blurred for a second and he blinked hard. “By the way, I said 14 million, six hundred and-”

“I don’t care about exact numbers!” Tony sighed exasperatingly. “What would ever possess you to do that!? Huh!? You’re telling me this was the best plan your Houdini ass could come up with?”

“I swear to god, if you call one more name-”

“You’ll what? Go back in time and let me die?” Tony crossed his arms. “OH wait, you can’t!”

  
A piercing silence swept over them both. Stephen looked away and massaged his wrist, finding the pressure point to stop the nausea. He took a deep breath. Before, he wouldn’t have cared about breaking the rules. Now, it didn’t even matter.

“Tony...it was the only way-”

“I don’t wanna hear it! You just gave Thanos his final bit of ammunition to kill everyone and you wanna make excuses!?” Tony snapped. He was pacing aggressively back and forth, his hand over the healed wound. He checked it twice, waiting for it to rip open again any second.

“It was the only way you would see your son!” Stephen yelled, finally fed up with Tony’s ranting.

Tony froze, his right foot still in the air. “...what?” it was so soft, so breathy, Stephen almost didn’t hear him.

Stephen nodded. “There were outcomes where we won, but we lost you. We went back to Earth and Ms. Potts was waiting…” Stephen swallowed thickly. He shook his head slightly.

“Don’t!” Tony had his pinky finger in his mouth. He squeezed his eyes shut, fighting off the burning tears that soaked up the sweat and grime on his face. He was right. The damn dream he had was right! He glanced at the shattered helmet on the ground. What if their last phone call was more than Pepper calling about the ship attacking? What if….Tony hissed and rubbed the dirt soaked tears that burned in his eyes away, tugging on the soft, delicate skin under his weary eyes. “Just...don’t!”

“It was selfish and wrong, but as soon as I saw that, I started rejecting other outcomes that didn’t go down that path,” Stephen explained, his eyes hollow as he remembered. “I focused on the ones where you came back. The look on your face...the smile you had...it was pure bliss. Given your own history, from what I know, at least-”

“Someone else had to lose though, right?” Tony asked, trying to deter the subject from his past. The last thing he needed now was a flashback to his childhood. To that dark night in December. To every “what if” that haunted him. “Not everyone gets a happy ending here…”

Stephen nodded. “I won’t....” he pursed his lips tightly. “Any chance of redemption for Mordo is gone. His path is solidified and consumed by the fires that created him.”

“Your mystical boyfriend?” Tony cocked his head to the side, raising an eyebrow coyly.

“He wasn’t my boyfriend,” Stephen countered. “He was my mentor. Though, there was something...unspoken-

Tony’s mouth dropped open. “Are you serious? I was kidding! They seriously allowed that kinda stuff? No vow of celibacy?”

Stephen huffed, his shoulders trembling slightly. “Nope,” he popped the p in that word. “Trust me, I thought the same thing when I first got there. I barely even realized that he...noticed. We didn’t quite see eye to eye, but there were...moments. Times I should have said something. Everything happened so quickly and then he chose to walk away from everything. From Kamar-Taj-”

“Is that another magic school? You visit Hogwarts for the winter?”

Stephen fought the urge to roll his eyes. “Mordo left...I should have tried to stop him, but he wouldn’t have listened. He made his choice. I tried every day to track him down, to make him see reason and bring him home. Now, that chance is gone. He’ll be lost to the darkness that he ran from as a child. He and I will never…” Stephen tightened his lip. There were so many possibilities he could have had with Mordo. So many possible futures where they both could have been happy. “We’ll never reconcile.”

Tony was quiet, taken back by what he was hearing. No one really saw past his facade of being the genius, playboy billionaire. No one ever had wondered if he wanted something beyond that fantasy lifestyle. If he wanted something real like a family, people figured he would wave a wad of cash like a magic wand and he’d have them. No one had ever done anything this personal for him. “You gave that up for me?” Tony whispered.

“This is something you deserve, Tony,” Stephen finally looked up at him, his eyes shimmering with held back tears. “A wholesome, pure family.”

“Yeah, but...dammit Strange!” Tony kicked a large rock nearby and watched it tumble down the hill. “Not if it means you lose someone that meant something to you.”

“Tony, look at me,” Stephen whispered. He finally stood up and walked to the other man. “I wouldn’t have done it if I hadn’t considered every other possible outcome. We’re in the end game now and every step has to be calculated for this to work. I can’t say much, your survival is key to all of this working.”

Tony was silent. He knew Stephen was standing right there, but he kept his eyes focused on the obliterated terran in front of them. It always had to be him. When the world was falling apart, whether it was his own doing or not, it was always Tony who was at the center of it all.“And here I thought you were a heartless doctor…”

“I was,” Stephen admitted. “I even passed on your operation request-”

“Yeah, I noticed that,” Tony bit his lip. He partially rolled his eyes towards Stephen. “Thanks for that, doc. Guess I wasn’t worth your time a few years ago, huh?”

“Hey, I had a perfect track record! Even if I wanted to, there was no guarantee I’d fix what those bastards had done to you,” Stephen admitted.

Tony half smiled. “Is that supposed to make me feel special, doc?”  
  
“Trust me, you’re not the only one I turned away,” Stephen sighed. “Kinda had no choice during the attack on New York. I was busting my ass for months! Paychecks were nice though,” Stephen muttered under his breath.

Tony scoffed. “I bet...still wouldn’t make as much as me.”

“I didn’t have the luxury of a trust fund to start my life style,” Stephen pointed out.

“Making excuses, doc?” Tony smirked. He dared to look at Stephen. Now wasn’t the time to laugh, but they were caught in a limbo.

“Not as many as I used to,” Stephen admitted.

Tony kept glancing down at his healed wound, patting the skin lightly. “How did you fix this? You said eight? Is that the real magic number or something?”

Stephen huffed in amusement and shook his head. “N-no, it uh...it’s complicated.”

“Complicated and I are best friends,” Tony pointed out. “Try me.”

Stephen sighed and sat back down, his hands shaking as they brushed over the rocks around them. “It’s a complicated ritual that can go wrong if done improperly. Basically, it’s a life transference. I extracted years of time from my soul and transferred them to you. It can be used to extend life or heal life threatening wounds like yours.”

Tony blinked, trying to process what the hell the wizard had just said. “So...like a cat giving up one of its nine lives?” Tony asked, running his hands over the small of his back. “Does that mean I’m gonna live longer? Wait, you said eight? You gave eight freaking years of your life for this shit!?”

Stephen took a deep breath. “There was more damage than I anticipated. That blade punctured your intestines, your kidneys and it just barely missed severing your T12 and L1 vertebrae. A quarter of an inch to the left and it would have crippled you permanently.”

Tony’s jaw tightened. “Yeah, okay, but eight _years_? Eight!?”

“Yes, to ensure every bit of damage was undone and to strengthen your bones and muscles,” Stephen snapped. “I swear, I thought I was ungrateful.”

“It’s not that I’m not,” Tony pointed a finger at him. “I am. Grateful, not ungrateful, but...dude, did you seriously? Wait, the one outcome. The one where we win; is this how it all goes?”

Stephen shook his head. “I can’t tell you that. If one thing goes wrong, we’ll never win.”

“Oh, so you’re allowed to know and no one else is?” Tony crossed his arms. “What, is it some exclusive club? You need a Time Stone to enter it-”

“No, what I’m saying is, if I told you what happens, it could potentially change the outcome,” Stephen explained calmly. “I can’t tell you, not because I don’t want to, but because-”

“Lemme guess, the fate of the universe depends on it?” Tony smirked. “I swear, Strange, we gotta work on your bedside manner.”

Stephen scoffed and shook his head. “That’s rich, coming from you.”

Tony smirked ever so slightly. For a minute, neither of them spoke. He looked down and kicked another tiny pebble by his foot. “...thanks, by the way. For..ya know,” he patted the exposed healed skin. “Don’t tell anyone what happened. Especially the kid.”

“Your secret’s safe with me,” Stephen promised. He almost laughed at how pathetic the truth was. He noticed the dark clouds beginning to form in the sky. They had maybe 10 minutes left. Thanos would be arriving on Earth any moment now. “Tony,” he whispered, glancing up at the man.

“What?” Tony was instantly at his side. “What’s wrong? You got some mystical illness from that?”

Stephen shook his head. “Don’t give up,” he said. That was at least something he could say without affecting their final outcome. “No matter what.”

“You’re suddenly cryptic, what’s going on?” Tony frowned.

“Just...promise me,” Stephen whispered. He reached out and took Tony’s hand. “It’s not gonna be easy from here, but...you have to keep fighting. No matter what.”

Tony’s frown deepened. “Okay, Strange, you’re scaring me. What’s happening?”

Stephen closed his eyes for a moment. “The start of the end game. From here on out, it’s a delicate balance. Like an unbalanced knife hovering on the edge of a cliff, sway too far one way and it’ll fall-”

“Cut the philosophical metaphor crap!” Tony accidentally squeezed Stephen’s hand and he hissed, clutching it to his chest. “Strange, what the hell? You can’t pull that on me now. What’s happening!?”

Thunder clouds darkened the sky above them. Everyone jumped and huddled closer together. The source of light was blocked out and shadows rolled over the terran. The air seemed thicker somehow. Even the cloak tightened itself against Stephen’s body. Stephen pat it gently. Despite everything it had been through, the cloak was afraid of lightning and thunder. The collar flaps flattened themselves on his neck.

“Something’s happening….” Mantis whimpered behind them. Tony spun around, his stomach still churning at the sight of the weird alien chick. Stephen took a deep breath, his eyes misting at what was about to happen.

To everyone else’s shock and horror, Mantis suddenly disintegrated. A grey and brown plumb of ashy smoke flaked her body into nothingness and the soft wind fluttered her away.

“What the hell…” Tony was frozen in place. He barely turned his neck and glanced at Stephen. “Dude…”

Stephen swallowed thickly. He had mere minutes himself. “I’m sorry, Tony. For being an asshole all this time. I promise I’m not always this big of a dick.”

Tony felt an icy wave crash over him. His heart was pounding. Oh god, was he next!?

“Quill…” Drax, the weird clay guy with graffiti mumbled. Tony looked back to see the guy’s arm disintegrate just like Mantis. Then slowly, the rest of his body faded away. Tony could sworn the guy almost had a look of relief on his face. As if he was content this was happening.

The other Peter had the same horrified look on his face. “What is this bullshit?”

“Care to speak up, Stephen?” Tony asked, facing him. “What….the hell is happening?” He could see Parker in the corner of his eye, standing near the spot where Mantis was a moment ago. His heart clenched at the very idea. Dear God, anyone but him. Please...take everyone else, but not the kid…

Stephen was deathly silent. There was nothing he could say or do to help or to fix any of this. His silence was the only thing preventing them from falling off the philosophical metaphor cliff Tony had so eloquently named.

“Dude...dude, dude, dude, no, no, no….” Quill was clutching his stomach and hunched over, vomiting on the ground. “Oh god! Ya know when your leg falls asleep and it feels like static? My stomach feels like that now. Everything does…”

“Steady, Quill…” Tony whispered. So Quill was next then…

“Oh man…” Quill sighed, and he fell apart. Just like Drax, he seemed to have a calm, relief look on his face. Tony squeezed his fist shut. That was three...there were six of them here, excluding the robot chick that suddenly showed up to crash a ship into Thanos. He kept preaching out balance....they were balanced.

“I think we’re good,” Tony whispered. He finally looked at Parker. The poor, tiny kid looked like a deer in headlights. “Pete...we’re good.”

Stephen sighed. In the pit of his stomach, he could feel a small black hole forming. A thick, misty haze was beginning to trickle over his body. His head was buzzing slightly. He swallowed thickly.

“Strange, get up. We gotta go,” Tony offered his hand to him. “We can’t stay here. Robot girl’s got a ship. We can get back to Earth. I’ll introduce you to the other Avengers and we’ll figure out a plan.”

Stephen smirked and shook his head. Those that were left anyways. He could hear the screams scattering across the universe. Thanos’ destiny was sweeping across the stars, randomly selecting and consuming. The scales of existence were rocking back and forth like tsunami waves in the wild ocean. The balance was working furiously to settle everything.

A sharp shooting pain cramped his chest and Stephen groaned.

“Strange?” Tony’s eyes widened. “No….no, no! You said balance. Those three are already gone! It’s you, me and the kid! We need you!”

“Mr. Stark, is he okay?” Peter was bouncing his weight slowly from leg to leg. “Mr. Wizard….”

Tony was right in front of Stephen and cupped his cheek. “Dude, you can’t leave us now. We need you...I need you.”

Stephen put his hand over Tony’s. “Maybe...in another life, that would have meant more to me.”

“What are you talking about?” Tony frowned.

“Infinite multiverses,” Stephen whispered. “There were so many...you and I...were a lot of things. We should have met sooner. I should have taken you as a patient when they found you in the desert...things would have been so different. But….” Stephen looked straight up into Tony’s eyes. Those swirling amber orbs were thick and dark with every emotion coursing through Tony’s body. “I can settle for this…”

“Settle for what?” Tony gripped his jaw tighter. “Stephen!? What-”

“This game of who’s the bigger, better douchebag,” Stephen couldn’t help but smirk. He had only a minute now. Everything inside him was shutting down. With his other hand, he took a fistful of the cloak. “This...unspoken tension between us…”

“So it wasn’t just me?” Tony whispered, praying the kid wasn’t overhearing them.

Stephen shook his head. “Meeting you, seeing a reflection of myself within you...put a lot of things into perspective for me. I see why people love to hate me, and why people just hated me.”

“Well, which one am I to you?” Tony asked. Anything to keep the conversation going, to hold off on any other possible bad thing that could happen. “I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours.”

Stephen coughed and tried to turn it into a laugh. “Oh trust me, I definitely hated you at first. Then you saved my life from Ebony Maw-”

“That was my idea!” “That was the kid’s idea.”

Stephen arched an eyebrow. “Either way...you and I are more alike than we care to admit, Tony. I know you put on a hard front to keep the pain locked inside. I do it too…”

“And that’s why I need you,” Tony whispered. “You need to get up. Now. Earth needs us. The whole freaking universe does. We can talk about this later, doc. Banner’s a great therapist. He’ll help us figure this shit out.”

“Dr. Banner’s not that kind of doctor,” Stephen pointed out.

Tony shrugged. “He listened to my problems. He’s got 7 phD’s, I’m pretty sure one of those is for therapy.”

He helped Stephen to his feet, still keeping a firm grip on his hand. “Okay, now let’s-” Tony stopped when his hand curled into a fist. He turned quickly to see the same disintegrating affect on Stephen’s body. His legs and torso had vanished. It was consuming him from the bottom up.

Stephen’s eyes were glazed over, his expression strangely calm and almost sorrowful.

“No….” Tony breathed. “Strange!”

“Tony...it’s okay,” he whispered. With the tiniest, purest smile on his pale, pink lips, Stephen vanished. His ashes were carried away, fluttering in the air like an ashy mist.

“Mr. Stark…” Peter whispered.

“Kid!” Tony spun around, his eyes burning with tears. He grabbed Peter by his shoulders, to reassure himself the boy was still there.

“I don’t feel so good…”

“You’re okay,” Tony echoed Stephen’s words. Adrenaline was pumping through his body faster than he could process. He couldn’t handle any more loss now.

“I don’t know what’s happening!” Peter’s voice was panicked. Fearful tears were blurring his vision. Tony’s heart ached beyond any pain he had ever experienced in his life. He could see the ashy flakes beginning to peel off Peter’s body. As soon as a section vanished, it suddenly reappeared. His body was fighting desperately to repair itself faster than it was tearing itself apart.

“I don’t know what’s happening! I don’t-” Peter was hyperventilating and his legs gave out. He all but fell into Tony’s arms, his tiny voice squeaking. “I don’t wanna go….”

“Kid!” Tony squeezed him tight, as if it would help keep him here.

“I don’t wanna go, Mr. Stark. Please, I don’t wanna go, I don’t-” Peter sank to the ground, dragging Tony with him as he hit the ground. Tony held the kid’s hand.

_Dear god, if you’re gonna take him, do it fast. Please don’t make him suffer…_

“I’m sorry…” Peter whispered. His eyes went blank and Tony opened his mouth to reply. Then Peter was gone. A smudge of his ashes caked themselves onto Tony’s hand and he fell back. He stared at the ash.

_And if you died….well, that’s on me…_

Tony hunched over, cradling his hand to his chest like it was a sleeping child. He rocked slowly, letting a few tears fall. This was all his fault. The nightmare he had all those years ago…

_You could have saved us….why didn’t you do more?_

“He did it…” Nebula muttered. She gripped her sword tightly. Despite all the pain and torture she had suffered over the years of her life, nothing could compare to this.

Tony shook his head. Stephen’s words were echoing in his head. He glanced over at the rock Stephen had been on moments ago. “Don’t give up...no matter what.”

His expression hardened and he stood up. Tony’s hands balled into tight fists. “Robo-chick, your ship still fly?” he asked, his voice thick and tight, suppressing back the fury and sorrow boiling in his body like a volcano.

Nebula tilted her head, perplexed by the weird name this human gave her, but she nodded.

Tony started marching towards the ship, his mind set on only one thing as he passed her. “We’re going to Earth.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was a gift for duskyironstrange who asked for Tony hiding an injury and Stephen healing him with magic.  
> Check me out on Tumblr as well and stay in touch!


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